EPISTEMOLOGY OF THEOLOGY STATUS, TASK, FUNCTION AND MODALITIES

Abstract

The form and status of theology depend on historically changing socio-cultural conditions. For the past two centuries, theology has been understood primarily in terms of the ways in which it situates in history. These ways are diverse, and theology will build on the traditions that crystallize within them. In this text, we propose to read a tradition as the continuation of a process of taking on human and social problems, to construct a genealogy of the impulses at work, to clarify the terms of the problems articulated in their implications, and to open up an appreciation of the constellations that emerge. In all this, we’ll be working on two fronts: on tradition(s), on the one hand, and on a social situation, on the other. This marks a break with any theology based on a given foundation, and determines the epistemology involved.

KEYWORDS: Theology. History. Tradition. Practices. The contemporary.